Blimey, it's nearly Christmas!

Time seems to be flying by at a startling pace. Not only has it been a week since my last Molemaison post but we are also nearly at the end of week two. Assessments will be here before we know it. This week I have learnt the following things:
1) there are lots of women younger than my Mum who look considerably older. It is a constant source of amazement to me. I am hoping this means I have great genes!
2) when you trust D to do the online Tesco order you get 8 cans of sweetcorn, 12 bottles of Pepsi Max, 16 bottles of water and a tub of Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt for me. The poor Tesco man nearly freaked out when he saw our stairs, the lack of lift and the many bags of heavy groceries. I thought he was going to expire on the stairs.
3) in England folks respond really well to ceilidhs. I was a little sceptical about a ceilidh to celebrate Lincolnshire Day on Saturday but it was great fun if totally baking hot. Everyone danced, food was good and I even got asked to dance by a stranger - yes! Still got it ladies and gents!
4) contemporary plays about Iraq are universally brutal. I need to read a jolly Christopher Fry comedy or something.
5) 'Eat Natural' bars are really addictive and actually aren't that healthy when you eat them so regularly.
6) tea costs nearly fifty pence more at our newly improved LPAC cafe than in the architecture building just across the way.
7) disappointingly, England are a little better than Scotland at rugby. They are certainly dirtier players. Consequently, I realised that in this derby match I was actually cheering for Scotland. Strange! Also realised the rugby union was very boring compared with its Northern, more dynamic cousin, rugby league.
8) the yoga camel pose is really very sore when performed the day after the first squash game of the new term (I lost...miserably).
9) carnations last very well even in a hot room.
10) dance students are much more violent and enthusiastic than drama students when they play the game 'Bang!' as a warm up.

And those are the things I have learnt this week. A mixed bag, huh? Term is going well all in all. It's pretty full on but full of fun. Continuing to send off a load of proposals, papers and reviews. I'll post when decisions come through. I am hopeful! Anyways, I'm off for a cuppa before we watch the first episode of Treme from The Wire guys. The lovely Clarke Peters is starring - it'll be good to see him back on the small screen after watching him tread the boards last week.

Hope everyone is doing really well.
CSW

What to do to avoid reality T.V.

So, as we come to the end of the British summer, reality TV has taken over our screens. You even have a choice if you like - either celebrities you've never heard of sitting in a house doing nothing on one channel or a mixture of the truly terrible and marginally talented on the other. Goodness, decisions, decisions. I have made the decision to avoid both at all costs and here's what I've been doing this week to ensure I hear absolutely nothing about either:
1) rewatching the Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon series, 'The Trip'. I absolutely loved this the first time round and it is just as good when you watch it again. I'm not often really moved by television but this show makes me laugh aloud and feel strangely sad in each half hour episode. There are a lot of lines that have become catch phrases chez Warden.
2) tidying our flat. So the big tidy up is nearly completed. There are a few dodgy cupboards left over but they can just wait. I'll do them one at a time during term. The whole place feels a lot better.
3) reading American plays. Every summer I try to give myself a reading challenge. I did this when I was a kid and amongst the topics I tackled were monkeys, the poems of Rupert Brooke and the life and times of Richard III (who wasn't half as bad as Shakespeare suggested). This summer I'm trying to read as many American plays as I can. I've been working my way through Tennessee Williams and have now reached Arthur Miller. I've had a bit of Elmer Rice thrown in there too.
4) planning our trip to America/Canada. Man, we are getting excited about this! We've booked lots of special days out and some exciting adventures. Tonight we spent half an hour drooling over menus.
5) finding new blogs. I find blogs by women quite problematic. They can be a little predictable. Recently I've found a whole load of new blogs by some wonderful, creative ladies across the world. They are inspirational traveller types, happy to engage with a range of topics, write witty posts and provide some lovely pictures. One blogged about her recent reading matter - 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Marquez. This is genuinely the strangest, most beautiful book and anyone who battles all the way through it without getting totally lost is most certainly a friend of mine.
6) finishing projects. I'm slowly ticking off projects, getting to the point where I can leave them and come back to them during the busy first semester. It's all going quite well. There's one on Flecker's weird ol' play, 'Hassan', a couple of papers on wrestling (shush, don't tell anyone), an article on performing the archive and my HEA teaching project.
7) enjoying the sunshine. Man, the weather in Lincoln is truly sensational all the time. I take a jacket with me wherever I go out of habit but never really need it at this time of year.
8) reading together. D and I are enjoying reading a book out loud together at the moment. It is called 'Mirror, mirror' by a guy called Graham Beynon. It is a Biblical look at self-esteem. It is really interesting and deals with an issue that we all struggle with at times.
9) eating chocolate fudge cake. We had a friend over for dinner yesterday and, rather than make a pudding, I was really lazy and bought an amazing cake from our favourite farm shop at Doddington Hall. Man, it was really good and there was even enough for a little bit tonight.
10) hitting golf balls. On Saturday I turned a golfing corner and hit balls consistently off the grass rather than the tee. I was very proud of myself.

So, that's your lot. Hope you're finding elegant ways of avoiding rubbish telly. Right now, D is listening to Pink Floyd on YouTube and I am hankering after a cup of tea before I tackle the ironing.

I'll post a little something before we go away. Hope everyone is doing really well.

CSW

A quick lunchtime post

Have just finished my lunchtime workout. When I have a home research day I've taken to spending my lunch break doing a home workout from this brilliant site (don't be put off by her unbelievable abdominals - the workouts are great!). The workouts are exhausting but I always feel really good afterwards (about an hour afterwards - currently my arms are still shaking slightly!). So I thought, while I recover my composure, I'd write a short post.

We came third in the quiz on Saturday night. We were quite chuffed with this result especially as the final round was on 'People/Places in Lincolnshire'! No sports, music, art, books or film rounds so D and I were struggling from the off. All fun though. Sunday was good, as always. The Pastor preached on Isaiah 40. It is a wonderfully encouraging chapter, especially if you are feeling a little weary in any way.

Yesterday was spent at uni and today is my research day, although I haven't even looked at the book yet. I've been working on this paper for Friday (basically finished) and the paper for Seattle in November. Outside (in typical Lincoln style - we never have just dull grey days) there is a serious storm and I am glad to be sitting in my home office.

Given that all this is pretty dull really, here, as promised is a new list for your enjoyment. Since our holidays I've been contemplating my favourite places in Britain so here is my list:

Top Five Places in Britain (in no particular order)

1) Lyme Park, Cheshire - not only did they use this wonderful estate as Mr Darcy's house in the TV version of Pride and Prejudice but D proposed in the courtyard. It is beautiful in summer but is particularly good in Winter. You can take a fab walk across the hills and hear the stags calling to each other.

2) The Cairngorms - unbelievably beautiful, peaceful and relaxed.

3) Torridon/Applecross/the West of Scotland - D and I had an amazing holiday in this area March 2009. We were both having an...interesting...time in our respective workplaces, and this holiday just provided some quiet space to get away. The roads are great and the scenery spectacular.

4) The north coast of Tresco - as a child I spent nearly every holiday in the Isles of Scilly. It is a strange place to revisit now as every corner is imbibed with memories. That said, we had a great holiday with the fam there earlier this year. D and I explored the north tip of Tresco and I' m not sure I've ever really visited that end of the island. The weather was fab and the path was scary/exhilarating.

5) Stratford-Upon-Avon - when I was 17 I promised myself that I would live in Stratford one day. I was on a school trip and we saw four plays in 2 1/2 days. I fell in love with Shakespeare and theatre history in that place...and look at me now!

Hope that gives you some food for thought. I feel that I can finally contemplate food now so I'll head through to the kitchen for a sandwich. Next post will be upon my return from Reading.

Enjoy the week folks

CSW

Another fun list

Ok so for my Friday list this week I thought I'd go for my top five poems after grappling with the top five book issue for just too long. So...(in no particular order):

Walter de la Mare, The Listeners.

I love this poem so much, mainly because it was one of my Granny's favourites. Given that we had a shared love of all things poetic I had to include it. When I read the first two lines - "Is there anybody there", said the Traveller,/ Knocking on the moonlit door - I can always hear her voice.

The Bible, Psalm 139

OK, so it's impossible to place Biblical poems alongside these other examples but it is my favourite psalm. Incredible poetry and, best of all, it reminds me that I can't go anywhere where God is not. Very encouraging.

W.H. Auden, Musee de Beaux Arts

Perhaps an odd choice given that it concludes with the unnoticed death of Icarus but this poem is one of Auden's best. It is such an insightful presentation of the problems of the contemporary world. People are so concerned with their own business that things like compassion and empathy seem to disappear. Still an amazingly timely piece.

John Donne, Batter My Heart Three Person'd God

I could have chosen a number of Doone poems, including a fair few that are incredibly risque! I love Doone because he never limited himself to just one genre and was always contentious. This poem, like many of his others, is just so amazingly passionate.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways

Oh, goodness I'm struggling. I should've given myself a list of ten! Rather than go with Robert Browning's terrifying My Last Duchess (this is my favourite one to teach as it always takes students by surprise!) I thought I'd choose a poem by another member of the Browning clan. I have a hand-painted version of Sonnets from the Portuguese (again, a present from Granny) and all of them are just beautiful.

So, there we are. As usual, I hope this gets you thinking.

I am sitting in my new Jack Wills cardigan. Just lovely and cosy while the rain lashes down outside.

Enjoy the evening

CSW

Lists, lists, lists

Good evening,

So, given that my life is fairly dull right now (at least dull to everyone who doesn't have a morbid interest in the historical avant-garde) I started thinking this morning about bringing some much needed readability to my blog posts. So I thought I'd start posting some lists. I love a good list, in fact my life is governed by them. So, here's the first (and if I remind anyone of that bloke in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity then...well...you're probably right):

Top Five Favourite Films of all time

Now I don't claim to be a film buff at all. In fact of all the artistic genres this is probably the one I can take or leave. This is in marked contrast to D who is a bit of film fan and despairs at my lack of knowledge. But here goes...

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

This film reminds me of a lovely Edinburgh evening when D promised he would take me to see this film if I accompanied him on the Christmas Big Wheel. After 10 minutes of high vertigo terror we went down to the Omni Centre. And I cried...a lot! I don't usually cry at films (ask my Mum who thinks I am terribly cold-hearted!) but this film really made me think about wonderful spiritual truths. I also want to be Lucy Pevensie!

The Great Escape

I love this movie. Moving, funny and historically interesting, it's got it all, including the amazing Steve McQueen on a groovy 1940s motorbike.

Aladdin

An odd choice you may think for a nearly 30 lecturer but I still think this is the best animated film ever. Sister (Smelly...no, she wasn't Christened that!) and I used to watch this whenever we were off school. In fact, as I remember, it was our only real video for quite a long time. Everything else was taped off the telly. I also saw it on my first ever trip to the cinema. Granny B took a whole load of us to the cinema in Wilmslow (?) and I still remember how exciting it all was. Smelly and I could recite the whole script with accents!

Inception

So I only actually saw this film last week but it creeps into my top five (obviously these things are subject to change) simply due to the way it got me thinking. Contrary to the impression given by my last choice, I actually like films that make me think a bit. Well casted and brilliantly directed, this is a film that will stay with me for a good long while yet.

A Beautiful Mind

My final choice was a tough one. There are a number of films I have really enjoyed, not least the new Sherlock Holmes, the X-Men series (I'm a sucker for a good super hero), Spinal Tap, the Lord of the Rings trilogy etc ad nauseum. But for the last of my top five I've plumped for A Beautiful Mind. I find this film academically inspiring even though it is about maths! I still remember being surprised by the psychological twist the first time I saw it (only me?) and the soundtrack is mega.

So there you go...With any luck that got you thinking. I love this sort of thing. I'll post others on different topics and hopefully it will mean that summer blog posts are slightly more interesting while I am chained to a computer writing the book.

In other news we have finally booked our summer holiday. Given that we are going away in a couple of weeks it's about time we made concrete plans. So, in typical Warden fashion, we are staying at a beautiful B&B in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales for a couple of days before heading north to catch up with Edinburgh friends (and for me to sing at St Giles in my comeback gig - yikes, nervous isn't even the word!). Then it's off further north to the Cairngorms for a jolly few days with Charlie and Liz and some peaceful walks around Loch Garten. Lovely. I'll take some photos for the blog.

Oh, and we've just booked Asia gig tickets for December. Front row centre. Woohoo!

That's all...a quiet weekend ahead. Doing Body Combat tomorrow for the first time since leaving Edinburgh. I won't be able to move on Sunday morning!

CSW